Sorting conveyor arrangements

ABSTRACT

An article sorting arrangement in which articles are fed to one or more sorting stations and from the sorting stations to one or more sorting conveyors, each sorting station including a store in which articles are accumulated after sorting and then fed successively to the sorting conveyor. Each store consists of a number of compartments separated by controllable dividing means, these means being operated in such a way that the articles accumulating in the store travel progressively towards the sorting conveyor, the order of filling the compartments being arranged so that the compartment in each store nearest the sorting conveyor is filled first. The arrangement may include feeder conveyors for supplying the sorting station, and preferably includes means to ensure that articles which are not sorted are recycled until sorting can be effected.

United States Patent Rooke 51 Mar. 28, 1972 54] SORTING CONVEYOR 2,856,071 10/1958 Williamson ..209/125 ARRANGEMENTS Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles [72] Inventor: Sydney William Rooke, Erith, England Attorney sommers & Young [73] Assignee: Sovex, Limited, Kent, England I [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Dec. 19, 1969 Appl. No.: 886,665

An article sorting arrangement in which articles are fed to one or more sorting stations and from the sorting stations to one or more sorting conveyors, each sorting station including a store in which articles are accumulated after sorting and then fed successively to the sorting conveyor. Each store consists of a number of compartments separated by controllable dividing means, these means being operated in such a way that the articles accumulating in the store travel progressively towards the sorting conveyor, the order of filling the compartments being arranged so that the compartment in each store nearest the sorting conveyor is filled first. The arrangement may include feeder conveyors for supplying the sorting station, and preferably includes means to ensure that articles which are not sorted are recycled until sorting can be effected.

14 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEBMAR28|972 3651.940

SHEET 1 [IF 2 SYDNEY W ROOKE b* W N/6M SYDNEY w. koows bf 601mm I Em SORTING CONVEYOR ARRANGEMENTS This invention relates to sorting arrangements for articles, for example to parcel sorting arrangements in which parcels are fed by sorters to a sorting conveyor and the arrangement is particularly intended to ensure that the sorting conveyor operates at its optimum capacity.

In one embodiment of the invention, the sorting arrangement comprises a main feeder conveyor supplying articles to be sorted to at least one marshalling region or glacis from each of which the articles are supplied to a secondary feeder conveyor in a predetermined orientation, and at least one sorting station is provided adjacent to and supplied by said secondary feeder conveyor, the articles being sorted at said sorting station and fed therefrom to a sorting conveyor, each sorting station including a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively towards the sorting conveyor.

Preferably each sorting station includes an accelerating conveyor between the sorting conveyor and the store compartment nearest to it to ensure that the articles fed to the sorting conveyor do so at the optimum speed.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view ofa complete parcel sorting installation with inessential parts omitted for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation taken on the line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation taken on the line B-B of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of an alternative arrangement of FIG. 3, and

FIG. Sis a side elevation taken on the line C-C of FIG. 3.

In this embodiment of the invention, a parcel sorting arrangement is supplied by a main feed conveyor 1, which is for example a travelling band onto which parcels are fed at random. Along one or both sides ofthis conveyor are a number of marshalling areas or glacis 2 into which parcels are directed by controllable means 3 such as ploughs which are arranged for graduated operation so that each glacis is continually supplied with parcels without overflowing.

At each glacis stands a facer whose function is to orient each parcel with its label uppermost so that it can be read by the sorters who perform the next operations.

The outlet of each glacis is in communication with a secondary feeder conveyor 4, and each of the secondary conveyors runs past one or more sorting stations controlled by a sorter. Each sorter may be responsible for one or more such stations, and the system may be so arranged that two sorters can operate three or even four such stations.

Each station is arranged to supply a sorting conveyor 5, and the sorting conveyor accepts parcels from each store in a sequence and at a rate according to its space capacity.

The operation of this embodiment is as follows:

The main feeder conveyor 1, which may be a flat belt with ploughs or a tilted band with controllable gates or ploughs 3 is at a relatively high level and parcels are delivered therefrom into inclined collecting areas or glacis 2 which feed the parcels gravitationally towards a single outlet. At this outlet stands a facer who turns each parcel round until its label can be read by other operatives who act as sorters.

Each outlet feeds a secondary feeder conveyor 4 which extends horizontally and at a right angle to the main conveyor.

On one side of each secondary feeder are a number of pushbutton sorting stations, each controlled by a sorter. Each station is inclined towards a sorting conveyor 5 to which parcels are fed, this feed being facilitated by the inclusion, at the discharge end of each station, of an accelerating conveyor (not shown) which ensures delivery of the parcels to the sorting conveyor 5 at the appropriate speed which ensures that the sorting conveyor operates at its optimum capacity.

As shown particularly in FIGS. 3 to 5, each sorting station is divided into a row of compartments 6, separated by controllable gates 7 and the arrangement is so operated that parcels fed to the store by the sorter are placed individually in adjacent compartments, the compartment nearest to the sorting conveyor 5 being filled first. As soon as a parcel is taken by the sorting conveyor 5, all the parcels remaining in that store move to the next empty compartment, their movement being controlled by appropriate sequential operation of the gates 7.

Thus when the sorting conveyor 5 is able to accept a parcel from a particular store, the lowest gate 7 opens and the parcel is fed by the accelerating conveyor to the sorting conveyor 5, by which it is eventually delivered to the correct distribution point.

As soon as this parcel is fully loaded onto the sorting conveyor, the discharge gate 7 closes and the next upper gate 7 opens, closing again when a parcel has moved into the recently emptied compartment 6. This is repeated along the row of compartments 6 in each store until the empty compartments are nearest to the sorter, who is thus able to form a queue" of parcels waiting to be loaded onto the sorting conveyor.

Where the sorting stations are arranged in pairs, the pairs being separated by a suitable interval, when a signal is given by the sorting conveyor 5, the parcels from the first pair of stores 6 are fed to the sorting conveyor, and after a suitable delay, the parcels from the second pair are similarly loaded. No parcels are taken while the conveyor 5 is fully loaded.

The sorting stations may be parallel, or as shown in FIG. 4 they may be arranged to converge towards the sorting conveyor 5, and it is preferable for the sorters to face the oncoming parcels.

By placing each secondary feeder conveyor 4 at a relatively high level above the sorting conveyors 5 as shown in the drawings a number of systems can be arranged in an overlapping relationship, the sorting conveyor 5 of one line being beneath the secondary feeding conveyor 4 or the sorters platforms 17 (FIG. 3) of an adjacent line.

Sorting conveyors tend to have discrete acceptance positions, or at least to have articles spacing requirements, and the present invention provides a way of ensuring that the conveyor 5 operates at optimum capacity.

Sorters, however, work at a rate which is dependent on such factors as the legibility of labels and the shape or handiness" of the article being sorted, and the use of a number of sorters each controlling one or more stores enables the parcels to be sorted at maximum efficiency of both sorters and the sorting conveyor.

Preferably the sorting conveyor is a continuous band. It may, however, be of any suitable type, such as a plurality of separate carriers.

The secondary feeder conveyors are so arranged that any parcels not taken by the sorters are returned to the beginning and recycled.

Thus the parcels or other articles travel through a path which is as follows, commencing with the conveyor 8 to which parcels are originally fed. This conveyor carries the parcels to an ascending run 9 from which they descend to the ascending conveyor 10 which delivers the parcels to the main feeder conveyor 1.

Parcels which are not diverted into any of the marshalling areas 2 are delivered to the conveyor 11 and are then fed to the conveyors 12 which return unsorted items to the conveyor 10 via the conveyor 13.

Those parcels or other articles which are delivered to the secondary conveyors 4 but which are not fed to the store compartments 6, for example when all the compartments are full, are returned to the conveyor 8 by means of the conveyors l5 and 16.

Articles fed to the sorting conveyors 5 which are not removed therefrom for any particular reason are discharged onto the conveyor 14 which links the delivery ends of all the sorting conveyors and returns all the articles which remain on the conveyors 5 to the conveyor 13 from which they are returned eventually to the main feeder conveyor 1.

It will be evident from the foregoing that provision is made at each stage of the sorting process for the recycling of surplus articles until each is finally discharged from the installation for delivery to its destination.

Within each store at a station, the parcels may move to successive compartments 6 under the influence of gravity. However, each store may be provided with a conveying means which transports the parcels towards the sorting conveyors, and this conveying means may be for example an escalator conveyor, the steps of which move individually when occupied to transfer the parcels, or for uniform parcels a pusher type may be employed, the bars of which are arranged to engage the parcels and when loaded to move through the store in the correct sequence. These two latter methods will also be capable of providing a more rapid movement of the queue of parcels than the purely gravitational method described above.

The system may be modified where the parcels can be suitably coded, so that the reading of addresses and sorting can be automated, provided that the parcels are correctly oriented on the secondary feeder conveyor 4.

On the main feeder conveyor 1, the supply of parcels to each glacis 2 is preferably controlled by movable ploughs 3 which may have a graduated movement across the conveyor surface to allow progressive feed which ensures that each glacis is properly filled. The plough control may be manual or automatic.

In a modified embodiment, the main feeder conveyor may be a tilted band conveyor with controllable side gates at each glacis. In this embodiment, each gate may have to be operated extremely rapidly and its operation preferably controlled by the use of photoelectric means.

Where desirable, a separate conveyor may be provided to deliver articles to the operative who faces the articles for the sorters, in accordance with normal practice. In another embodiment of the invention each store may have controllable belt conveyors carrying the articles towards the sorting conveyor. Such an arrangement would allow the stores to be horizontal, and each belt would run until an article reached its head and the following belt was also occupied, detection of articles on the belts being performed for example by photocells.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim is:

1. A sorting apparatus comprising,

a main feeder conveyor,

a secondary feeder conveyor,

at least one sorting station,

a store supplied by the or each sorting station and a sorting conveyor fed by each store,

each store comprising a plurality of compartments separated from each other and from the sorting conveyor by selectively controllable gates,

the gates being provided with actuating means operable to deliver the first article placed in said store to the compartment nearest the sorting conveyor,

and said sorting conveyor including means to remove articles from the or each said store,

said gate actuating means being operable to cause the articles in the or each said store to move sequentially to to next empty compartment in the direction of the sorting conveyor.

2. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the main feed conveyor is an endless band provided with controllable article deflecting means which are operable to deliver the articles to be sorted to a selected marshalling region, the deflecting means being arranged for graduated operation whereby each marshalling region is supplied with articles without exceeding its capacity.

3. A sorting arrangement according to claim 2 characterized in that the controllable article deflecting means comprise selectively operable plough members.

4. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the articles are fed to the marshalling regions by automatically controlled means.

5. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the articles move from the main feeder conveyor to the sorting conveyor under the influence of gravity.

6. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the main feeder conveyor and each secondary feeder conveyor are interconnected by further conveyors which are arranged to recycle any article not delivered into a store.

7. A sorting arrangement according to claim 6 characterized in that the sorting conveyor is arranged to deliver articles not selectively removed therefrom back to the main feeder conveyor.

8. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the sorting conveyor, said sorting station being provided with an accelerating conveyor between the sorting conveyor and the part of the store nearest thereto, the accelerating conveyor being driven at a speed which feeds the sorted articles to the sorting conveyor at a predetermined velocity.

9. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the sorting conveyor, each sorting station comprising a row of compartments arranged between the secondary feeder conveyor and the sorting conveyor, the compartments being separated from each other and the sorting conveyor be controllable gates, the movement of the gates being arranged such that the compartment nearest the sorting conveyor is filled first with sorted articles, and as these articles are successively discharged to the sorting conveyor the gates are operated in sequence to move the articles remaining in the store to the next empty compartment in the direction of the sorting conveyor.

10. A sorting arrangement according to claim 9 characterized in that the sorting stations are arranged in pairs, the pairs being separated from each other, and wherein each sorting station includes two stores, the articles being fed to the first store in each pair, with respect to the direction of travel of the secondary feeder conveyor, until said first store is filled to a predetermined level, following which the articles are fed to the next store, the sorting conveyor being arranged to receive articles from the first pair of stores before receiving articles from succeeding pairs.

11. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the conveyor, each store being provided with additional conveying means which transports the articles toward the sorting conveyor.

12. A sorting arrangement according to claim 11 characterized in that the additional conveying means comprises an escalator conveyor, the steps of which move individually when occupied to move the articles towards the sorting conveyor.

ble in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to'the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward and sorting conveyor, the sorting of articles from the secondary feeder conveyor to the sorting conveyor being effected automatically. 

1. A sorting apparatus comprIsing, a main feeder conveyor, a secondary feeder conveyor, at least one sorting station, a store supplied by the or each sorting station and a sorting conveyor fed by each store, each store comprising a plurality of compartments separated from each other and from the sorting conveyor by selectively controllable gates, the gates being provided with actuating means operable to deliver the first article placed in said store to the compartment nearest the sorting conveyor, and said sorting conveyor including means to remove articles from the or each said store, said gate actuating means being operable to cause the articles in the or each said store to move sequentially to the next empty compartment in the direction of the sorting conveyor.
 2. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the main feed conveyor is an endless band provided with controllable article deflecting means which are operable to deliver the articles to be sorted to a selected marshalling region, the deflecting means being arranged for graduated operation whereby each marshalling region is supplied with articles without exceeding its capacity.
 3. A sorting arrangement according to claim 2 characterized in that the controllable article deflecting means comprise selectively operable plough members.
 4. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the articles are fed to the marshalling regions by automatically controlled means.
 5. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the articles move from the main feeder conveyor to the sorting conveyor under the influence of gravity.
 6. A sorting arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the main feeder conveyor and each secondary feeder conveyor are interconnected by further conveyors which are arranged to recycle any article not delivered into a store.
 7. A sorting arrangement according to claim 6 characterized in that the sorting conveyor is arranged to deliver articles not selectively removed therefrom back to the main feeder conveyor.
 8. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the sorting conveyor, said sorting station being provided with an accelerating conveyor between the sorting conveyor and the part of the store nearest thereto, the accelerating conveyor being driven at a speed which feeds the sorted articles to the sorting conveyor at a predetermined velocity.
 9. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the sorting conveyor, each sorting station comprising a row of compartments arranged between the secondary feeder conveyor and the sorting conveyor, the compartments being separated from each other and the sorting conveyor by controllable gates, the movement of the gates being arranged such that the compartment nearest the sorting conveyor is filled first with sorted articles, aNd as these articles are successively discharged to the sorting conveyor the gates are operated in sequence to move the articles remaining in the store to the next empty compartment in the direction of the sorting conveyor.
 10. A sorting arrangement according to claim 9 characterized in that the sorting stations are arranged in pairs, the pairs being separated from each other, and wherein each sorting station includes two stores, the articles being fed to the first store in each pair, with respect to the direction of travel of the secondary feeder conveyor, until said first store is filled to a predetermined level, following which the articles are fed to the next store, the sorting conveyor being arranged to receive articles from the first pair of stores before receiving articles from succeeding pairs.
 11. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the conveyor, each store being provided with additional conveying means which transports the articles toward the sorting conveyor.
 12. A sorting arrangement according to claim 11 characterized in that the additional conveying means comprises an escalator conveyor, the steps of which move individually when occupied to move the articles towards the sorting conveyor.
 13. A sorting arrangement according to claim 11 characterized in that the additional conveying means comprises a pusher-bar conveyor, the bars of which are arranged to engage successive articles, and when loaded, to move the articles towards the sorting conveyor.
 14. A sorting arrangement which supplies articles to a sorting conveyor and comprising at least one sorting station, the articles being sorted at the or each sorting station and fed therefrom to the sorting conveyor, characterized in that each sorting station includes a store for the articles which is operable in such a manner that the part of the store nearest to the sorting conveyor is filled first, the articles in the store being removed by the sorting conveyor in dependence on its capacity, so that as articles are successively fed to the sorting conveyor, the remaining articles in the store move progressively toward the sorting conveyor, the sorting of articles from the secondary feeder conveyor to the sorting conveyor being effected automatically. 